Basware: SMB employees spend 2 full working days a month on financial processes

The average SMB employee spends 16 hours and 53 minutes per month on
financial processes, equating to two full working days on activity
unrelated to their role, according to part two of Basware’s SMB
Finance research.

Of those two days spent on financial processes, the most time-consuming
exercises include responding to supplier/customer enquiries (2 hours 19
minutes), creating and sending invoices (1 hour 55 minutes) and
reviewing invoices to be paid (1 hour 45 minutes). This coincides with
the findings that in Europe, almost half of SMB business owners (46%)
don’t believe their company has a clear procedure for approving invoices
to be paid, compared to 38% in the US. Similarly, 52% of US employees
and 50% of European employees do not believe there is a clear process
for chasing unpaid invoices, leaving the SMB vulnerable to cashflow
challenges.

The SMB Finance research surveyed 558 business owners and 1,368
employees with financial responsibility from small to medium enterprises
to identify the financial processes and owners of responsibility within
SMBs across the UK, US, Sweden, Germany and Belgium & Netherlands.

This research aims to inform SMBs of the challenges they face in growth,
as well as educating business owners on the productivity levels of their
employees as small business finance processes reach breaking point. The
findings also help businesses to understand the investment needed in
people, processes and technologies as they move from ‘small’ to ‘medium’
and beyond.

It appears that the lack of clear procedure for receiving and sending
invoices is also causing disconnect among business owner and employee
expectations due to the invoice payment process. According to business
owners, it takes European businesses 8 days and US businesses 4 days to
complete a payment after receiving and processing an invoice. Yet,
according to employees, it takes European businesses 10 days and US
businesses 7 days to complete a payment after receiving an invoice.

The lack of clarity surrounding invoicing procedures is further
exacerbated by the fact that a significant percentage of businesses are
dealing with invoicing manually, adding further time and resource to the
financial process. 64% of European SMBs manually invoice customers
(compared to 40% in US), while 77% manually approve / pay purchase
invoices.

While medium-size businesses are most likely to receive an electronic
invoice from their supplier (72%, compared to 56% in small and 31% in
micro organizations), this type of business is also most likely to
experience challenges with purchase invoices (91%, compared to 84% in
small and 53% in micro organizations). As SMBs become larger and
implement more automated processes, they continue to deal with smaller
organizations with manual paper processes. The research suggests that
micro organizations may be able to improve supplier relations if they
switch to an automated invoicing process, in order to align with other
companies more successfully when transacting.

John Webster, Vice President of Global Product Marketing, Basware
comments: “Although SMB resources are often being stretched to the limit
in this challenging economic climate, employees in these organizations
are still spending a significant amount of time on tasks that may be
completely unrelated to their role. The SMB Finance findings suggest
this resource drain is down to inefficient financial processes and
manual systems that are preventing small businesses from transacting
successfully with suppliers and buyers, issues that need to be addressed
if growth and health cashflow is to be achieved. By automating their
financial processes, SMBs reduce pressure on employee time, remove
manual errors and establish a platform for growth which stems from
effective finance.”

Basware’s SMB Finance research also gives an indication of business
owners’ priorities in the current financial climate:

Medium sized owners’ concerned with strategy: 53% in the US are
most focused on budgeting, compared to 27% in Europe

A greater focus: With more time spent on financial planning,
medium businesses are able to plan further ahead, on average 18 months
in advance, compared to 15 months among small and 10 months among
micro businesses.

SMB owners on the go: 74% of European and 89% of US owners
check their business’ finances outside of work, with slightly fewer
than half most likely to check at the weekend

Research definitions

CIO, CTO & Developer Resources

European medium-sized business: Organizations with between 50-250
employees

European small-sized business: Organizations with between 10-50 employees

European micro-business: Organizations with up to 10 employees

US medium-sized business: Organizations with between 50—500 employees

US small-sized business: Organizations with between 10-50 employees

US micro-business: Organizations with up to 10 employees

About Basware

Basware is the global leader in cloud based e-invoicing and
purchase-to-pay solutions with more than 1,000,000 users in over 60
countries. Basware’s B2B Cloud solutions and services provide an open,
secure and global ecosystem for buyer and supplier collaboration,
connecting more than 1.9 million buyers and suppliers globally. The
solutions are architected to meet the needs of SMEs and global
enterprises and are built upon Basware’s deep knowledge and experience
of B2B financial processes, coupled with intelligent cloud connectivity
and the Open Network. With Basware, organizations benefit from more
efficient procurement, accounts payable and accounts receivable
processes, sustainable cost savings, better insight to cash flows and
improved buyer-supplier relationships. The solutions are available via
the cloud, on-premise or through business process outsourcing in Europe,
the US, and Asia-Pacific through an extensive network of Basware offices
and business partners.

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